Taking on the autohub challenge! Need some advice.

[Bigjoe2185]

Hello fellas, ive been a lurker and i thought i would post. My expertise in in electrical but I am taking on the hubs.

I have a 94 ford explorer sport, five speed with 4x4. Love the truck, the ohv motor gets so much better gas mileage than the ohc.

To my question. I pulled the autohubs off because i want to rebuild them. I know you fellas love the manuals, LOL but im gonna take on the autos. Everything in there looks like strong metal and i need them for snow so the stock should be fantastic. Anyway, i pulled the auto hubs off and pulled them apart.

In the bottom of the hub assembly there is a small circlip that encompasses the end of the small shaft that holds the hub bearing. there is also a circlip that holds the bearing into the bottom of the spline assembly. Well if i pull that small inner circlip that holds the moving spline assembly, the splines will engage. Im wondering if that circlip at the bottom of the hub assembly is even supposed to be there. Mabie they for got out of the factory or something, LOL.

I also believe i am missing the thrust washers, im assuming every 91-94 explorer w 4x4 has thrust washers. (the two washers on the axle part of the front wheels between the cam and the axle bearing nut.)

I appreciate your reponse all, You guys are the best!!

Any questions for me feel free. Thanks much.

big joe

 

[Brock94]

1) The clip is supposed to be at the bottom (looking down into the hub)

2) The "re-designed" autohubs do not use thrust washers and the "cam" mechanism that stays attached to the spindle when you take off the hubs is made of aluminum instead of plastic as on the older models.

I have broken the "re-designed" version, so both are weak. I still run the autohubs though for convenience, but I carry a spare just in case.

BTW-- the thing that breaks on these is the cam mechanism that is attached to the spindle. The little square-shaped points break off when the hub is engaging under torque (e.g. if you "rock" the truck to get unstuck, if you engage 4WD when on a grade, if you change directions on a grade, etc). In doing the re-design, Ford's engineers apparently thought that a 1/8 inch piece of aluminum would be able to stand up to the torque of the front driveline better than a 1/8 in piece of plastic. They're right, relatively speaking, I guess.

Good luck and carry a spare. (I found out from experience that I can buy them for about $30 when I don't need them, but when the truck is stuck on the side of a mountain in the Winter, they cost at least $100 +shipping.)

 

[Bigjoe2185]

Thanks brock i appreciate the reply.

Thats the main reason im keeping the autohubs is because of the convenience. The woman is driving it from time to time and i will hear about it if she has to get out and engage the manuals. LOL.

I appreciate the back ground as well. I was really suprised when there were no thrust washers. And i was suprised to see aluminum, but you got it right, its not gonna move a 3500lb truck too well. Luckily both sides of mine are in order.

Im going to replace that bearing in the end and clean them up and see what i get. Maybe an ebay replacement set is in order.

 

[Bigjoe2185]

Would any year 91-94 ex hubs fit my truck or do I have to have hubs that came off of the redesigned style hub setup?? Is the thrust washer setup any different besides just the washers and cam?

 

[Brock94]

Would any year 91-94 ex hubs fit my truck or do I have to have hubs that came off of the redesigned style hub setup?? Is the thrust washer setup any different besides just the washers and cam?

One of the hubs that is still on my truck is the only one that I was able to get while stuck per my previous post-- its the old style with the plastic cam and thrust washers, so yes you can run the older style. I recommend taking the hub apart for your own education-- both the new and old style hubs work the same way.

I couldn't figure out how they worked until I took one of them apart. The spindle cam, and the little pointy things on it, do not actually move the truck. When torque is applied to the cam in the hub (when the axel is rotated by the transfer case in 4wd), it rides up the cam on the spindle until it make contact with the pointy things at the top of each slope of the cam. As it does that it pushes the cam in the hub outward and engages a gear in the hub so that the hub and the axel are locked together. Once locked, it is this gear that takes the forces from the axel. The problem is that when moving from the unlocked to the locked position, if it moves too quickly, the torque shears off the pointy things on the spindle cam so that the hub won't stay locked anymore (with the pointy things broken, the hub cam will ride up one side of the spindle cam(to the locked position) and imediately back down the other side (to the unlocked position).

Maybe that's more than you wanted to know!